"RPG fans, rejoice!"

A RPG.. for the GameCube.. and a good one, at that. That's something that you don't hear very often.

This is the next game in the Tales series, a very underrated collection of games.

Namco scores again with the production of Tales of Symphonia. Who-ha!

Gameplay 9/10-

This game isn't your traditional RPG, but it does keep many elements that fans of the genera will be thankful for. Basically, you wander around on the world map looking for the next town or dungeon you need to visit. But watch out, enemies also roam this vast land. You encounter them in the form of a black blob, making it so you can walk past them if you wish. Though, if you do want to take part in combat, run up to the creature and the battle setting activates.

Battles are, simply put, chaotic. This game is pretty hack-and-slash, mash the A button over and over, though, you can preform combos by tilting the control stick in different directions. Magic is activated by pressing the B button, or by opening the menu and selecting the desired action. Short-cuts can be placed and used with the C stick.

The Automatic character control is amazing! You can set how you wish the character to respond in battle. It's almost flaw-less. To top it off, you can have your friends control the other characters in battle, if you wish, giving ToS a nice multiplayer option.

Difficultly level.. Hm. I'm having no problem with this game, I give it an easy. While not very challenging, it's very enjoyable, still.

Story 7/10- Good story, but overly done. Ever play Skies of Arcadia? How about Final Fantasy X? Yeah, it's very similar.

I don't want to give much away, so here it goes:

You're Lloyd, the class-clown and unlikely hero. Your friend is the "Chosen" the one to save the world and become an angel. You assist her on her journey and act as a guardian.

Like I said, nothing new, but nicely told.

Graphics 10/10- While cell-shading isn't my choice of graphic style, this game is still remarkable.

Everything is beautifully detailed, making things very nice to look at. The character models are anime-styled, giving this game a very cartoonish look. Not necessarily a bad thing, it's like popping in your favorite anime. I should take a point off, though, sometimes the models overlap. Ah, well. It's not a huge deal.

Sound 9/10- Tales of Symphonia's music is wonderful! Orchestrated themes to heavy metal sets all of the moods to the game.

The voice acting is professionally done by a range of anime voice-actors. The voices really fit the characters. Very rarely does it sound cheesy or overly high-pitched.

Play Time/Replayability 9/10- This game will probably take ya a while, one of the 'Cube's only multiple disk games. Eh, I'm not sure how long a play through will take- I'll guess somewhere around 100-150 hours.

Good amount of replayability, collect recipes and leveling up items will give you something to do.

Final Recommendation - This game is defiantly worth it. If you're a fan of the series, a RPG fan in general, or looking for a new GCN game, I recommend buying it.

Final score time!

9+7+10+9+9=44

44/5= 8.8 ~ 9

9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10 | Originally Posted: 07/19/04

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